A Curlew-like but much smaller, paler wader; very long-billed but with medium-length legs. Looks much like Black-tailed Godwit at rest, but plainer wings and white V above pale tail very different.

This is one of a number of wading birds that have predominantly coppery-red plumage in summer; they become essentially dull brown birds outside the breeding season, but the juveniles show a warmth of plumage colour that echoes the breeding adults. It migrates far to the north in late spring, although most breed in the Low Arctic rather than High Arctic.